Editing Heliox (section)

{{short description| A breathing gas mixed from helium and oxygen }}
{{cs1 config|name-list-style=vanc|display-authors=6}}
{{about|the breathing gas|the cryogenic system|Heliox (cryogenic equipment)}}
{{Infobox drug
| drug_name          = Heliox
| CAS_number = 58933-55-4 
| PubChem            = 123812
| chemical_formula   = He.O<sub>2</sub>
| molecular_weight   = 36.001
}}

'''Heliox''' is a [[breathing gas]] mixture of [[helium]] (He) and [[oxygen]] (O<sub>2</sub>). It is used as a medical treatment for patients with difficulty breathing because this mixture generates less resistance than atmospheric air when passing through the airways of the lungs, and thus requires less effort by a patient to breathe in and out of the lungs. It is also used as a breathing gas for deep ambient pressure diving as it is not narcotic at high pressure, and for its low [[work of breathing]].

Heliox has been used medically since the 1930s, and although the medical community adopted it initially to alleviate symptoms of upper airway obstruction, its range of medical uses has since expanded greatly, mostly because of the low density of the gas.<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Barach AL, Eckman M | title = The effects of inhalation of helium mixed with oxygen on the mechanics of respiration | journal = The Journal of Clinical Investigation | volume = 15 | issue = 1 | pages = 47–61 | date = January 1936 | pmid = 16694380 | pmc = 424760 | doi = 10.1172/JCI100758 }}</ref><ref name="BOCMprod">{{cite web |url=http://www.bocmedical.co.uk/product_information/heliox.asp |title=Heliox product information |publisher=BOC Medical |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081121031022/http://www.bocmedical.co.uk/product_information/heliox.asp |archive-date=21 November 2008}}</ref> Heliox is also used in [[saturation diving]] and sometimes during the deep phase of [[technical diving|technical dives]].<ref name=usn>{{cite book |title=US Navy Diving Manual, 6th revision |year=2008 |publisher=US Naval Sea Systems Command |location=United States |url=http://www.supsalv.org/00c3_publications.asp?destPage=00c3&pageID=3.9 |access-date=2008-07-08 |archive-date=2008-05-02 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080502023541/http://www.supsalv.org/00c3_publications.asp?destPage=00c3&pageId=3.9 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name=Brubakk>{{cite book |title=Bennett and Elliott's physiology and medicine of diving | edition = 5th Rev | vauthors = Brubakk AO, Neuman TS |year=2003 |publisher=Saunders Ltd. |location=United States |isbn=0-7020-2571-2 |pages=800 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url = https://www.divingheritage.com/moderncomex.htm | title = COMEX PRO }}</ref>